FOR DEVELOPMENT
Royal D Colle
A
recent speaker at my university explored the question of why the income benefits of new agricultural practices had not resulted in better nutrition for children in the villages of India. One of the speaker’s guesses was that the people used the ―extra‖ money to buy cell phones. Everyone in the villages, he noted, had cell phones. To put it in more formal terms, authors of a chapter in the 2012 World Bank publication Maximizing Mobilesuggest that ―Mobiles are arguably the most ubiquitous modern technology‖ (Kelly and Minges, 2012). They note that in some developing countries, more people have access to mobile phones than to a bank account, electricity or evenwater, and that mobile phones are the vanguard of information and communication technologies (ICTs)in agriculture development. An example of the relevance of mobiles to agriculture comes from Sri Lanka. Officials there discovered that between 2003 and 2008 the country was losing a huge amount of milk because of the lack of systematic attention to 500,000 milk cows’ potential pregnancies. So the country’s eDairy programme made a significant change. In 2009, eDairy set up a system whereby dairy farmers could request veterinary and extension services related to such issues as animal health and artificial insemination by means of simple information technologies (Halewood and Surya, 2012).
Being a cornerstone of teaching and research, a university could be a viable partner to incubate, support and carry out ICT-based projects in developing countries.Thus, higher education institutions can play a significant role in the social and economic development of these less privileged communities.
Such advancements are possible, in part, because ICT tools have become relatively inexpensive while becoming more sophisticated and versatile. Thus, ICTshave found a foothold even on poor smallholder farms and in farmers’ activities (World Bank, 2011).
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The potential of ICTs for development has significantly changed how key people in government and agencies perceive ICTs. Some us can remember when near the end of the 20th century many of the UN Round Tables on Communication for Development struggled wit h t he issue o f recognit io n for a pro minent ro le for communication in development planning. One of the participants in those roundtables was Colin Fraser who with his wife wrote about ―the dislocation between national media and national development (Fraser and Restrepo-Estrada, 1998). Yet, even as recently as the 2007 meeting of the UN Round Table on Development Communication in Addis Ababa, participants requested that the Chief Executives Board of the United Nations System ―impress upon senior-level decision-makers of United Nations Specialized Agencies, Programmes and Funds the importance of prioritising Communication for Development principles and methodologies in all programmatic areas, and the need to allocate human, technical and financial resources for this effort‖ (UN, 2007).
A major thrust toward recognising the viability of ICT for development initiatives came from the eight major industrial nations (the G8) who in 2000 acknowledged that information and communication technology is one of the most potent forces in shaping the 21st century, and they noted that its revolutionary impact affects the way people live, learn and work, and the way government interacts with civil society. Another major impetus was the two-phase World Summit on the Information Society in Geneva (December 2003) and Tunis (November 2005) which prompted many international organisations to come forward with ideas, plans, and programmes for using ICTs to meet the Millennium Development Goals. Note especially the stocktaking efforts of the International Telecommunications Union (ITU, 2012a and 2012b).WSIS stocktakingwas launched in October 2004. Its aim has been to provide a registry of ICT development activities carried out by governments and international organisations.
Now, more than a decade into the 21st century, we find agencies like the World Bank aggressively moving forward on ICT applications to development (World Bank, 2012). For example, one of its 2012 publication explores the uses of ―mobiles‖ in
development, and matches the application of mobiles with each of the Millennium Development Goals. In a table listing the MDGs, the entry for the Gender Equality goal points out that: ―A study looking at gender differences in the availability and use of mobile phones in developing countries reported that 93percent of the women who had mobiles felt safer because of the phone, 85 percent felt more independent, and 41 percent had increased income or professional opportunities―(Minges, 2012).
Along with the enthusiasm for the potential of ICTs for development there are cautions to be observed. These have been identified by the World Bank Source Book as―lessons learned so far‖ (World Bank, 2011. In abbreviated form these include:
1. Concentrate on the demand, not on the technology.
2. Use appropriate technologies not necessarily newest. ―…the newest, most elaborate, or most innovative technology is not automatically the most appropriate.‖
3. Focus on affordable access and use, not ownership.
4. Be aware of differential impacts.For example, gender issues need to be considered. ―Questions of social access should be raised consistently when using ICT to improve rural livelihoods.‖
5. Create an enabling environment for innovation in infrastructure investment.
6. Develop sustainable business and investment models through partnerships.
7. Promote leadership and find champions.
An underlying theme in this list is related especially to number 7. That theme is that training of leaders and decision-makers is a vital part of the effort to promote effective uses of ICTs. This has been addressed directly during recent years by the UN’s Asia Pacific Center for Information and Communication Technologies for Development (APCICT) and the World Bank. APCICT’s mission is to strengthen the efforts of member countries to use ICTs in their socio-economic development through human and institutional capacity building. Training is one of its three pillars of action. The World Bank has developed a 15-module Source Book
support practitioners and policy makers in taking maximum advantage of the potential of ICTs as tools for improving agricultural productivity and smallholder incomes, strengthening agricultural markets and institutions, improving agricultural services, and building developing-country linkages to regional and global agricultural value chains‖ (World Bank, 2011). We next address some issues related to ICT training and applications.
Communication Planning
The lessons listed above strongly suggest that training in ICTs for development (ICTD) requires significantly more than knowing applications, characteristics and techniques related to mobiles and other technologies. Training requires a broader look into communication planning and strategy, and into a broader variety of issues that can influence the success of ICTD. We have addressed these in a how-to-do-it approach elsewhere (Colle, 2007), and present them here in brief as a reminder of some of the factors that enter into decisions about ICT use and as suggestions for what should be included in a training agenda related to ICTs.That agenda needs to focus on developing skills related to designing communication strategies that can serve as a framework for ICTs deployment. .
A communication strategy emerges from a series of important steps. First is a situation Analysis. This information-gathering activity is important for shaping the communication plans and strategy, but it is often necessary for coordinating with the parallel strategies of related sectors. Intervention officials will need to be able to draw on a variety of data such as demographic and psychographic factors; historical, economic, political and social structure realities; and stakeholders’ beliefs and perceptions, knowledge, attitudes and practices related to the proposed intervention.
Second, one must learn how to articulate communication objectives that support the overall intervention goals. The objectives need to be expressed in cognitive terms. They might include phrases such as: to increase knowledge, to teach, to motivate, to persuade. To improve health is not a communication
objective.
Third, identifying appropriate communication channels is a major step. In some places mobiles might be quite appropriate but, as we see elsewhere in this journal (Addom, 2012), the gong-gong
might be considered a viable tool. For example in Ghana, gong-gong beating is one of the traditional means of getting information to community members such as informing them about issues, making announcements, gathering people for communal labour, community gathering, etc.
Fourth, it is important to look broadly as to who the important stakeholders are. In a persuasion campaign a person’s perceptions might be influenced by others, and those others might need to be targeted. One expert points out that smallholder farmers include a variety of people with different characteristics, including different genders, and that this is important in exploring the interplay between gender issues and ICT applications in agricultural development. Manfe notes that ―Differences in education and literacy among men and women will limit the effectiveness of certain ICTs (Manfe, 2012. Also we are reminded that little attention is paid to bureaucracies whomay need to be influenced and managed in support of such goals as poverty alleviation (Korton and Uphoff, 1981).
Fifth, decision-making about content is important whether it is the gong-gong or the mobile that is the medium to be used. Mobiles, the Internet and radio can be used for giving market information, for reminding mothers of children’s health service appointments or for teaching new skills but people need to learn how to package the content. Are talks, entertainment-education, or demonstrations the most appropriate approach?
Sixth, it is important to build evaluation into communication planning. What is its purpose, what methods can be used, and when should it be done are a few of the questions that need to be asked in laying out an ICTD initiative.
Public Engagement and Service-Learning in Universities
Another issue that needs to be addressed has to do with training of university students to be effective future leaders in the ICT world. This is one of the goals of APCICT’sFuture ICT Leaders Programme. However, the university classroom needs to be driven by a public engagement policy.Public engagement refers to universities becoming more systematically and institutionally involved in the affairs of their communities and nation. This applies especially to the classroom experience of their students. Let’s look briefly at the potential of universities in the ICTD issue. As society's key knowledge institutions, higher education can play a vit a l ro le in br ing ing k no w ledg e, info rmat io n, a nd communication services to the public arena. Since Professor Calestous Juma of Harvard wrote about the need to ―reinvent universities‖ (Juma 2006), there have been some small steps toward getting higher education institutions more involved in development-type activities such as community telecenter.While he was concerned especially with African universities he noted that universities worldwide were under pressure to expand their social mission. This theme has been addressed in a variety of ways, ranging from the land grant university system in the United States with its mandated extension programmes (starting in the late 1800s and early 1900s) — to more recent examples targeting higher education’s potential development role. A related concept relevant to public engagement and more sharply focusing on the teaching-learning role of universities is ―service-teaching-learning.‖ This concept refers to young people—from kindergarteners to college students— using what they learn in the classroom to solve real-life problems.This goes beyond traditional internship programmes. Students not only learn the practical applications of their studies, they become actively contributing citizens and community me mber s t hro ug h t he s er vic e t he y per fo rm (Nat io na l Service-Learning Clearing House).These approaches to the educational culture touch on a wide range of issues but an underlying theme stresses the need for universities and other higher education institutions throughout the world to give higher priority to reaching out and serving development in their nations. Being a
cornerstone of teaching and research, a university could be a viable partner to incubate, support and carry out ICT-based projects in developing countries. Thus, higher education institutions can play a significant role in the social and economic development of these less privileged communities. In return, communities can serve as workstations for university students and researchers to get involved in educational and development projects. This is where public engagement and service-learning come in.
The ICTD Field Manual
Many universities across the world offer communication and development courses — using various names. Many have been incubated by APCICT. Some are imbedded in health, or agricultural extension curricula. Anticipating a widespread effort
to persuade academia to incorporate ICTD in development-related courses, we have started on the preparation of an ICTD Field Manual with a goal to provide practical field-oriented projects and guidance for university students to gain practical experience that would complement and reinforce a student’s classroom studies and, at the same time, would significantly contribute to a community’s welfare. The Manual would incorporate some of the broader issues discussed in the earlier part of this paper.
The main objective of the ICTD Field Manual is to provide university (both undergraduate and graduate) students solid background on ICT, as well as its potential applications in development initiatives. We designed the Manual to serve as a ―practical‖ component to accompany the ―academic‖ counterpart of university courses that focus on development.Extension, communication, rural sociology, education, health, and information science, as well as qualitative research methods courses in social science are particularly suitable homes for ICTD components. Students would have the opportunity to gain an overall understanding of development communication for social change, the characteristics and functions of ICTs in these applications, how ICTs are vital components of development, and the options and choices to apply them toward economic and societal development goals in the community.
We have designed the ICTD Field Manual to be used alone as the core textbook for a practicum/field course or in conjunction with a development-based lecture course, addressing the needs of university students interested in gaining both knowledge of ICTD and practical experience of ICT-based projects for development. The topics covered include ICTD applications such as e-Health, e-Agriculture, e-Commerce among others. There will be case studies of ICT-based projects applying different types of applications and field activities along with specific guidelines and
directions for students to get them with the community. Students will be guided to learn how to work directly with the community to develop and implement programmes designed specifically to suit the community’s needs.
Here is an example of a chapter in the Manual, one dealing with ―Strengthening Community Development.‖ In it we discuss the role of communication in development and how community development is crucial for building capacity, not just for individuals but for the entire community. We outline the positive impact of ICTs for community development in both social and economic dimensions. We emphasise the important role telecenters/community learning centers play in providing access to information, especially for the disadvantaged population. Among the field activities we assign and give guidance for is data gathering using observation, interviews, and surveys methods. Other field tasks involve directly community engagement.
The chapter includes a variety of possible service-learning activities. For example, this is what ―activity 3‖ looks like — and how we address the student.
Activity 3: Telecenter Internship. The purpose of this activity is
for you to gain experience in the everyday operations of a telecenter. You will have an opportunity to have hands-on experience on how to manage and operate a local telecenter.
Instruction: Request a local telecenter for an internship for about
10 days (the length of internship is negotiable). You will need to arrange with the telecenter manager a schedule that will be convenient to your university responsibilities and to the telecenter people. This could be during the regular university schedule, during holidays, or between semesters. Propose what you could do while you are there. Some of the possible activities could be helping them with bookkeeping, with organising the physical layout of the facilities, with facilitating a training workshop, or with assisting people with searching the Internet.
Post-field Assignment, Activity 3: Write up a report on your
explain what the community gained from your assignment. Is there anything you could suggest to help this telecenter to improve its current state?
Some of the other public engagement activities that students can take on include, for example:
1.Design and carry out a community needs analysis and determine which needs are relevant to ICTs and report your observations to local leaders.
2. Undertake an inventory of ICT resources in a community and who uses/controls them;
3. Identify potential partnerships in an ICTD intervention and interview them about their interest regarding ICTs.
4. Based on observations and interviews in the community, do preliminary planning for a communication intervention, including research on objectives, target groups, content, and communication media.
5. Provide basic training in ICTs for special groups such as women and young people;
6. Collaborate with faculty and other specialists in your university to build collections of information for a web site or SMS file. (Colle, 2012)
These would all require the Field Manual to include appropriate background text along with guidance on how to carry out the specific service-learning activity.The formula for the Manual can be summarised as three E’s: exposure (where students learn about applications of a particular ICT), experience (where students’ are guided through a community-oriented field activity, and evaluation (where students reflect, comment on, and evaluate the experience).
Conclusion
Mobile communications now offer major opportunities to advance human development – from providing basic access to education or health information, to making bank transactions, and stimulating
citizen involvement in democratic processes (UN, 2011). From the Internet to gong-gongs, we have tools to use in development. However, a major priority to promote their effective use is education and co mprehensive training that will provide practitioners and planners with a rational and practical framework for using ICTs. Universities and service-learning should be part of that formula, and too often they are neglected.
References
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